Exercises

Exercise 1. State the morphological composition of the following nouns and the class they belong to.

Snow, sandstone, impossibility, widower, opinion, exclamation, passer-by, misunderstanding, inactivity, snowball, kingdom, anti-cyclone, mother-of-pearl, immobility, might, warmth, succession, ex-president, nurse, misdeed, wisdom, blackbird, attention, policeman, merry-go-round, girlhood, usefulness, fortune, friendship, statesman, brother-in-law, population, fellow-boarder, smelling-salt.

Exercise 2. State the syntactical function of the underlined nouns and define the class each belongs to.

1. His hair was grey and he was short and fat. 2. Pursuing his inquiries, Clennam found that the Gowan family were a very dis­tant ramification of the Barnacles... 3. His face was sick with pain and rage. 4. He drank coffee, letting the warmth go through his cold, tired body. 5. The myster­ies of storm and the rain and tide were revealed. 6. Having set the tea, she stood by the table and said slowly: "Tea's ready, Father. I'm going to London. " 7. By this time, quite a small crowd had collected, and people were asking each other what was the matter. 8. There were several small losses: a spoon used for the baby's feeding, a pair of scissors. 9. He was professor of physics. 10. A band of dark clouds lay across the sky, and underneath it was the last pale brilliance of the evening. 11. "I have some luggage, " he said, "at the Brumblehurst Station, " and he asked her how he could have it. 12. In the kitchen Bowen read the telegram aloud. 13. The crowd laughed and moved, pushing every way and everybody. 14. De Witt fished through his pockets, found his eyeglasses, carefully slipped them out of their case. 15. A stone caught her heel. 16. George suggested meat and fruit pies, cold meat, to­matoes, fruit and green stuff. 17. The silver-coloured carpet felt wonderfully soft beneath his feet, the furni­ture was of a golden wood. 18. The major seemed to be looking out at the sky. 19. The moon was shining through the tree stems when they sat again side by side on the log seat. 20. He looked down at his audience.

Exercise 3. Give the plural of the following nouns.

Face, portfolio, swine, house, tomato, hearth, mother-in-law, basis, clergyman, ox, cry, key, fox, downfall, looker-on, rock, bush, enemy, leaf, roof, genius, hero, bunch, sheep, ship, criterion, youth, journey, penknife, man-of-war, loss, datum, goose, deer, pie, Englishwoman, wolf, mouse, formula, bath, volcano, possibility, forget-me-not, foot, handkerchief, thief, crisis, stepdaughter, birth, echo, finger-tip, court martial, joy, mischief-maker, extremity, spy, lie.

Exercise 4. Use the appropriate form of the verb.

1. "There ____ money in my pocket," I said to the porter. (is, are) 2. I know my hair ____ beautiful, everybody says so. (is, are) 3. The works ____ his country, his home, his reason for being. (was, were) 4. These white swine ____ not live. (does, do) 5. Means ____ easily found. (was, were) 6. ...this watch ____ a special favourite with Mr. Pick­ wick, having been carried about... for a greater number of years than we feel called upon to state, at present. (was, were) 7. "Good," I said. "No one shall tell me again that fish ____ no sense with them." (has, have) 8. The deer ____ ravaging the man's fields. (was, were) 9. Money ____ so scarce that it could fairly be said not to exist at all. (was, were) 10. I was here before the gates ____ opened, but I was afraid to come straight to you. (was, were) 11. The papers ____ dull, the news ____ local and stale, and the war news ___ all old. (was, were) 12. At Capracotta, he had told me, there ____ trout in the stream below the town. (was, were) 13. The sugar-tongs ____ too wide for one of her hands, and she had to use both in wielding them. (was, were) 14. Her hair ____ loose and half-falling, and she wore a nurse's dress. (was, were) 15. And the baggage ____ apparatus and appliances. (contain, contains) 16. The china ____ good, of a delicate pattern. (was, were) 17. The nurse's wages ____ good. (was, were)

Exercise 5. Explain the use of the possessive case.

1. For four months, since in the canteen she saw Jon's tired smile, he had been one long thought in her mind. 2. Agnes was at her wit's end. 3. Since his illness, how­ever, he had reluctantly abandoned this attempt to get twenty-four hours' work out of each day. 4. The Radicals' real supporters were the urban classes. 5. To Eliz­abeth it seemed that the lines with which fear had falsely aged his face were smoothed away, and it was a boy's face which watched her with a boy's enthusiasm. 6. For his honour’s sake Tom has got to commit suicide. 7. They were to leave the house without an instant's delay and go at once to the river's edge and go aboard a steamer that would be waiting there for them. 8. And he lifted his strange lowering eyes to Derek's. 9. I was encouraged when, after Roger had proposed the guest of honour’s health, Lufkin got up to reply. 10. "Where are the children?" "I sent them to mother's." 11. Philip heard a man's voice talking quickly, but soothingly, over the phone. 12. Presently Rex was on his two miles' walk to Offendene. 13. That early morning he had already done a good two hours' work. 14. Bowen sat on the veranda of Buckmaster's house. 15. Crime is the product of a country's social order. 16. I spotted the bride's father's uncle's silk hat on the seat of a straight chair across the room. 17. I spent Christmas at my aunt Emily's. 18. We took some bread and cheese with us and got some goat's milk up there on the pasture. 19. He was still thinking of next morn­ing's papers. 20. Why, for God's sake, why must we go through all this hell? 21. A man stepped out from a tobacconist's and waved to them, and the car slid to the kerb and stopped. 22. A woman's love is not worth anything until it has been cleaned of all romanticism. 23. Her skin was as dry as a child's with fever.

Exercise 6. Join the 2 or 3 nouns using the Genitive (or Possessive) Case form.

1. the mother / Ann; 2. the daughter / Charles; 3. the birthday / my father; 4. the newspaper / yesterday; 5. the new manager / the company; 6. the garden / our neighbours; 7. the economic policy / the government; 8. the ground floor / the building; 9. the husband / the woman talking to Mary; 10. that man / the wife / the fur coat; 11. the owner / that car; 12. the result / the football match; 13. the jacket / that man; 14. the children / Don and Mary; 15. the top / the page; 16. the husband / Catherine; 17. the cause / the problem; 18. the wedding / the friend / Helen; 19. the toys / the children; 20. the car / the parents / Mike.

Exercise 7. Translate into English, using a noun in the genitive case where possible.

1. Давид провел две недели в Лондоне у дедушки, 2. Уезжая в Лондон, мальчик ничего не знал о предполагаемом (intended) браке своей матери. 3. В этом озере много разной рыбы. 4. После путешествия, которое дли­лось несколько часов, Джейн с Давидом прибыли в Лондон. 5. « Я дам вам один совет», - сказал он. Эти слова прозвучали странно: он никогда раньше не давал мне советов. 6. Я предпочитаю мебель, сделанную из дерева, а не из пластмассы. 7. При­ближаясь к дому мистера Смита, Давид увидел детскую фи­гурку, стоявшую на пороге. 8. Вся корабельная команда отправляется сегодня на берег. 9. Мы должны зайти в булочную и купить хлеба. 10. Дядя Джона и Эмили усыновил (to adopt) их, когда они были детьми. 11. Я провела праздники у своей тети. 12. Джейн с гордостью говорила о доб­роте своего брата. 13. Двухнедельное пребывание в Лондоне доста­вило Давиду большое удовольствие. 14. Ему очень пригодились знания, полученные в университете. 15. В присутствии мужа миссис Смит боялась приласкать своего сына. 16. После минутной нерешительности Давид подошел к миссис Смит и поцеловал ее. 17. Все сотрудники его отдела помогают ему в этой работе. 18. Он живет на расстоянии двух километров отсюда. 19. У меня сломались часы, и я должен был пойти к часовому мастеру, чтобы починить их. 20. Я никогда не кладу лимон в чай. 21. Его успехи все учебе вполне закономерны. 22. Вы уже читали сегодняшние газеты?